MPs examine personal doctor payments and patient lists under Gesy

Nicosia, Cyprus. Changes to personal doctors’ pay, new quality criteria and limits on patient lists came under scrutiny in parliament on Thursday as MPs examined weaknesses and distortions in the national health scheme, Gesy. The House health committee also considered whether the system provides sufficient incentives for quality primary care.

Payment and quality measures

Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) representative Petros Neophytou said the organisation plans to change the remuneration model for personal doctors in 2027 from the current 80-20 arrangement to a 70-30 model, increasing the share linked to performance. The HIO is also introducing quality criteria and reassessing performance indicators, he said.

Training and patient lists

Neophytou acknowledged that doctors with different levels of training were admitted to the personal doctor system when Gesy was introduced. “Some doctors without a specialisation were also included in the group of personal doctors,” he said, adding that “this distortion has an expiry date”.

He said the majority of personal doctors were doing a “fairly good job” and stressed that patients were free to change their personal doctor.

Pancyprian Medical Association representative Andreas Ioannou said Gesy currently has 640 personal doctors, including 150 specialist physicians, 150 general practitioners and 80 doctors from other specialties.

“There is inequality in the training of personal doctors,” Ioannou said. “Not all doctors have the same knowledge, but they are called upon to do the same job.”

He said around 170 doctors currently have approximately 2,500 patients each.